


Promise You'll Take Good Care of It?

by BrownieSnivy



Series: Finally [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Implied Slash, M/M, ShrimpShipping Week 2018, Shrimpshipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-11 09:52:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15312924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrownieSnivy/pseuds/BrownieSnivy
Summary: What would have happened if Rex had won against Espa, and not been knocked out of the tournament so early? Probably not this, but I just can't help but want to give my boys more relevance to the show's plot, you know? The first in this series is more tame than the second one will be, so keep that in mind. Rated T for swearing, dirty jokes, and the like.





	1. Prologue: The Espa Roba Brothers

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first of many ShrimpShipping Week 2018 contributions! This story is a multi-chapter fic, where I post one chapter for each day of the week, along with some other fics along the way. Hopefully, it didn't come out too bad, I just got really invested in tinkering with the plot of Battle City, even if the changes are small.

_This is bad… I should never have challenged this guy!_

Rex was currently involved in a tense duel, and it wasn’t going quite as well as he had hoped it would. He only had 1000 life points left while Espa had 2300, and with only a defense position monster and a trap set, it was looking like the dino duelist was in for another defeat.

_How am I supposed to win against a duelist with ESP?_ Rex wracked his brain for answers, but none surfaced. It seemed completely hopeless for the brunet.

Espa picked a monster of his Duel Disk and put it into the Graveyard. “I tribute my Cyber Raider to summon my signature monster, Jinzo!” The blue-haired duelist laughed as the machine monster materialized on the field.

_Damnit!_ Rex cursed internally and glanced down at the card he’d set.  _Not even Mirror Force can save me now!_

“It’s all over for you, Rex Raptor! That Mirror Force is no good against my unstoppable monster!” The psychic duelist gestured to one of the cards he had face-down, “And don’t even bother with that Enemy Controller in your hand. The cosmic powers of the universe have granted me the foresight to prepare for that, too! And with this spell card, Double Attack,” He sent a card from his hand to the Graveyard in order to resolve the effect, “Jinzo can destroy your monster before proceeding to wipe out your life points!”

Once again, the sloppily dressed teenager tried to find a way to turn the duel around but couldn’t think of anything in his deck that could stop Jinzo from mowing down his life points. He let out a defeated sigh. _After Duelist Kingdom, I’d hoped I could turn my dueling career around…_ He looked sadly at the crowd that had surrounded the two vertically challenged duelists and wasn’t surprised to see the mocking looks on their faces. He was just a washed-up has-been, after all.

But while he was looking at the sea of people, Rex noticed something up on top of a near-by building: four little children, all looking nearly identical to Espa.

For a moment, Rex forgot the desperate situation he was in and pointed at the kids. “What’s up with that?” He asked, looking his opponent dead in the eye. The entire crowd turned to see what he’d pointed out, and he noticed Espa was beginning to look extremely uncomfortable.

The teenager squinted to get a better look at the miniature Robas and wasn’t at all shocked to find one of them holding a pair of binoculars. “Cosmic powers of the universe, my ass!” Rex glared at Espa, who had broken down into a cold sweat. The crowd grasped overdramatically as Rex confronted his fraud of an opponent, “Ya stinking cheater! What do ya have to say for yerself?”

Espa stuttered in response, “M-my brothers…! They need me to win so that-”

“Never mind, I don’t care what ya have to say for yerself!” Rex interrupted and pressed a button on the bottom of his Duel Disk; a signal to the tournament supervisor that foul play was going down. “Once that little Kaiba gets here expect to fork over some cards, buster!”

The raven-haired child was there quicker than Rex had expected, and he gave Espa a firm scolding and a slap on the wrist before disqualifying him from the tournament. Rex watched with satisfaction as the phony psychic got the boot and the tournament supervisor made his way over to the brunet with two cards in hand. 

“Here you go!” Mokuba chirped, “One locater cards and one Jinzo, coming right up!”

He handed Rex the cards, which the brunet graciously took, “Thanks, kiddo! Ya sure gave that jerk a dressing-down. Yer pretty scary when yer mad, ya know.”

The slightly shorted boy laughed, “Just making big brother proud!” The tournament supervisor turned and began to walk away, “Good luck in the rest of the tournament!”

Rex responded on complete auto-pilot, “You too!” And with that the dinosaur duelist walked back to the hotel with his shiny new cards, completely oblivious to his mistake.

He couldn’t wait to tell Weevil all about his victory.


	2. Chapter 1: The Rare Hunters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second day of ShrimpShipping Week calls for another chapter of this! I didn't write a crossover fanfiction for the week (because I don't tend to enjoy crossover and couldn't write it to save my life), so this is all the writing you'll get from me today. This is the chapter the main plot begins, so it is very important. Hope it turned out okay!

Weevil was sitting on the couch, a large card binder on his lap. While Rex had burst out into the Battle City tournament criminally underprepared, the entomophile was busy preparing his deck for peak performance. After his embarrassing loss at Duelist Kingdom, Weevil was ready to bounce back with all the force of a star and prove everyone who had ever underestimated him wrong.

The silent, thoughtful atmosphere of the hotel room was interrupted by his companion bursting through the door. He looked overly high-spirited and incredibly proud of himself, and Weevil couldn’t help but wonder what was making the brunet’s demeanor so much more annoying than usual.

“You’ll never guess who won his first locater card!” Without any warning, Rex jumped onto the couch and sent Weevil’s carefully organized cards flying. “That’s right, this guy!”

“What the hell?” The blue-haired duelist growled as he bent over to scoop up the recklessly scattered trading cards.

“Ya sound surprised!” Rex continued, “Ya didn’t think I could do it?”

“I was talking about you jumping on the couch!” Weevil snapped back, “Can’t you see I’m working over here?”

His rival scanned over some of the few face-up cards on the floor that Weevil hadn’t yet recollected, “These are some pretty sweet cards. With these in your deck, I’m sure you’ll do well.”

Weevil had finished picking up all the cards and proceeded to slide them back into the binder. “If you could win a duel, I’m sure I can.” The insect enthusiast said with a smirk.

The brunet didn’t seem to register his friend’s insult, “Look at the card I got!” Rex shoved a monster into his friend’s face, almost causing him to drop the binder and scatter the cards again.

“Jinzo.” Weevil stated. “That’s a really good card. It has high attack power and an incredible effect that destroys traps… all while needing only one tribute.”

“I know!” The dino duelist gushed, bringing the card up to his cheek for a good nuzzling. “Now my deck is even better!”

When Rex got excited, he really went all out. Actually, the same could be said for all his feelings. Anger, sadness, happiness… all were on full display and presented at full capacity with Rex. Maybe his frequent mood swings were supposed to balance the strength of his emotions out, but either way it was quite the sight to behold.

“I’m almost done building my deck, and then you’ll have me to compete with.” Weevil assured his companion. “So look out.”

If the brunet had heard his warning, he completely ignored it, “The guy I was dueling was a total hack. Said he was a psychic. Turned out his brothers were just telling him what was in my hand from a building.”

“What your telling me is you didn’t have the skills to beat him while he was cheating, so you had to report him?” Weevil clarified smugly.

“How was I supposed to win if he could see my cards?” Rex retorted, crossing his arms indignantly, “If he hadn’t been cheating I would have had no trouble beating him!” He reassured.

The blue-haired duelist shook his head, “I guess we’ll never know.”

“You may never know, but I do!” Rex responded with certainty, “I’m just glad I didn’t drop out of the tournament in my first duel. Then my entire comeback plan would be shot!”

“Excuse me!” Weevil barked back, slamming the binder shut in rage.

“S-sorry!” Rex stuttered, his train of thought derailing completely upon seeing the fury in his friend's eyes, “I wasn’t trying to insult ya! I meant after failing, if I lost so soon it’d be shot, not that the act of being eliminated first instantly kills all hope of future success; so in yer case the first-time elimination thing was yer failure and if it happened again ya’d be hopeless, so I wasn’t saying ya were hopeless now!”

Weevil blinked in confusion, “What you just said was completely incomprehensible, you know.”

The reptile enthusiast shrugged,“Oh well. Who cares? You get the point, right?”

Weevil wasn’t sure that he did, but he decided that arguing with Rex wasn’t worth his time. “I’m going to go out and duel now. I suggest you do the same.” He picked up his newly updated deck and shoved it into his pocket.

Rex sighed, “I guess we should…” Even though he was agreeing with Weevil, he didn’t budge from his spot on the sofa.

“What’s your problem?” The entomophile asked harshly. “We’re leaving! Chop, chop!”

The brunet pushed himself off of the sofa and onto the floor, “Sheesh! I’m coming!” Weevil rolled his eyes as his friend pulled himself up from the carpet and joined Weevil in the doorframe. “I guess this is goodbye for now. Good luck with yer dueling.”

Weevil shook his head, “I don’t need luck to win. Who do I look like, Joey Wheeler?”

Rex laughed and patted his friend on the back, “Catch ya on the flip side!”

The two duelist parted ways, Rex heading in the direction of downtown and Weevil heading to the park. The blue-haired boy was guessing such a large and obvious spot in town would be swarming with duelists, and he was ready to start picking them off. He was going to have a late start compared to the others, but he figured it ultimately wouldn’t matter: it would just mean the opponents he went up against would have more locater cards and he’d have to duel less to get six.

As he had predicted, there were plenty of duelists in the park, and several duels were already underway when he arrived. Weevil began to search the crowd for free duelists when he noticed someone familiar in the masses. The blue-haired duelist shoved through the crowd to get a good luck at the duel.

A little girl with a black ponytail was dueling, and she seemed to be ahead. She had Marshmallon and Athena on the field as well as the Marshmallon Glasses continuous spell face-up, while her opponent only had a Hayabusa Knight in attack mode. With only 1000 attack, the feathered warrior was no match for Athena, who had 2600 attack as well as a special ability. But it wasn’t the girl who stood out, it was her opponent.

“Joey Wheeler,” Weevil muttered under his breath. “Just my luck.”

“I end my turn!” The black-haired girl proclaimed. “And next turn, I have just the cards to stop you!” She let out an innocent laugh, but in this situation it seemed almost maniacal.

Joey bit his lip, clearly unnerved by the situation. But before he even had a chance to think of a strategy, his cronies on the sidelines started cheering.

“You can do it, Joseph!” Some old guy Weevil had never seen proclaimed. “Believe in the Heart of the Cards!”

 “Don’t give up Joey!” Téa encouraged, “We’re here for you!”

The guy beside her chimed in, “So what if you only have 300 life points?” Tristan held his fist up high, “Your Joey Wheeler! You’ve gotten out of tougher situations then this!”

Weevil rolled his eyes, a sentiment clearly shared by the blond’s little opponent. “Will you two shut up?” she snapped, “I don’t know why this guy hangs around you bozos. Birds of a feather flock together, I suppose.”

Téa glared at the little girl, “You don’t strike me as someone who has a lot of friends!”

“Kick her ass, Joey!” Tristan continued to encourage his friend, “Shut her up for good!”

“Dat’s just what I plan to do wit dis card!” Joey showed the card to his opponent, a cheeky grin on his face. “Roulette Spider! As ya well know, Roulette Spider attaches itself to the strongest monsta on da field and forces it to attack da monsta it lands on!”

“That means the…” The girl gasped, “If it lands on my Marshmallon…!”

“You’ll take 2300 points a damage! And with only 2100 points, yer done for!”

“But if it lands on your chicken knight,” The black-haired child responded, “You lose! What a gamble! I expected better from the second-place spot in Duelist Kingdom!”

“You’ll be singing a different tune when my spider takes out all yer life points! Roulette Spider, work yer magic!” The arachnid attached itself to the face of the girl’s monster and began to spin, whirling around in circles so fast Weevil could barely see the fairy-type anymore. “Jus say da word, and yer monsta will stop spinning!”

“Stop!” the child yelled out confidently. “You have a lot of guts, Joey! But that doesn’t always mean you’ll come out on top!”

The rotation began to slow down to a crawl, tension crackling up between all onlookers. Téa was holding her breath, and Tristan looked like he was having a panic attack. The only one who seemed to be staying calm was the old man, who stood stoically by the sidelines. Finally, the spin halted.

And of course, it landed on the little girl’s pink blob.

“Damn it!” The black-haired girl cried out in frustration. “Impossible! You must be cheating!”

“Joey Wheeler neva cheats!” The blond wagged his finger mockingly, “Looks like I win afta all!”

The spider detached from the monster’s face, and Athena sent a powerful ray of light pummeling into Marshmallon, finishing off the child and sending her life points down to 0.

“Alright!” Tristan exclaimed eagerly, throwing one arm over his friend’s shoulders. “That’s the Joey we all know and love!”

After being knocked down form the impact of Athena’s attack, the little girl stood up and walked over to the much taller duelist.

“Ay, ya wanna shake my hand? I don see da problem wit dat!” Joey reached out his hand, and the girl reluctantly took it. “Claire, yer really talented fer ya age. Ya had me on da ropes! Ya gotta bright future ahead of ya!”

Claire just rolled her eyes and handed the blond duelist three locater cards and her Athena monster. “You make me sick.” And with that, the little girl sashayed away from the group of friends.

“What a little brat!” Téa grumbled. “I’m glad you put her in her place!”

Joey didn’t seem to be listening, he was to busy fawning over his new cards. “Dis is great! Now I got five locater cards! Battle City finals, ya better watch out! Joey Wheeler is goin straight to da top!”

Weevil couldn’t help but facepalm. _I can’t believe he almost lost to a child, and he only won because of his supernatural luck. What a joke!_

The insect duelist really didn’t feel like beating Joey right now; he should find someone to duel who wouldn’t cause him to lose brain cells just by interacting with them. He turned around, but before he could get very far away he bumped into a robbed figure.

The young boy hit the ground; scrapping his hand against the sidewalk. He looked up at the person who had knocked him down and shouted, “Watch where your going, dipshit! People are trying to walk here!”

Weevil got a good look at the person he’d just bumped into. They appeared to be a woman: soft and stunning features; long, ginger hair cascading down her shoulders; piercing almost ghostly blue eyes… she would be a paragon of beauty if it wasn’t for the unsightly purple robes and hood casting shadows over her face that completely ruined the look.

“You must be Weevil Underwood.” Her hollow voice rang like a church bell in the short duelist’s ears. “Level 7 duelist, rarest cards are the Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth and the Insect Queen.”

“Bitch, you’re creepy.” Weevil stood up and began to dust of his shirt. “By the way, I cut my hand because of you!” He held out his injured hand and pointed at the scrape. “Apologize immediately!”

The woman took a step closer to him, which he stepped back from to even out the distance. It didn’t seem to faze her, because she grabbed his hand and began to run her fingers over the scraped skin. “Your barely hurt.” She observed as her fingers continued to poke around at the wound. It was incredibly uncomfortable for Weevil. “I feel no need to apologize.”

Weevil shot his hand out of her grasp and retorted, “Well, if anything you should apologize for touching me! Stranger danger!”

“I feel no need to apologize,” She repeated again, this time taking several more steps closer to the entomophile. Then without warning, the woman shot into action and grabbed Weevil’s arm with lightning speed. Weevil yelped in surprise, but for as much as the smaller person tried to escape her grasp she merely tightened her iron grip, “No amount of apologizing can make up for mugging you and stealing your cards.”

Weevil’s blood ran cold, “Uuuum, can somebody maybe **help me**?!” His high-pitched voice rang out to the entire park, but nobody seemed to notice. It was almost impossible to hear over the cheering crowds and holographic monster battles that surrounded them.

The lady pulled on his arm, sending Weevil crashing into the ground again, only this time much more violently. His glasses fell onto the ground, and the robed figure stepped on them before gliding over to rummage through his pockets.

“Ey, wat’s da big idea?” Someone had finally noticed Weevil’s predicament, but unfortunately it just so happened to be Joey and his cheerleaders.

 _Just what the doctor ordered._ Weevil thought in dread. _They’ll never stop making fun of me for this._

The lady looked the blond dead in the eye. “I am simply following the orders of Master Marik.”

Téa gasped, “Is she one of those Rare Hunters you told us about?”

“Leave him alone!” Tristan yelled. “He doesn’t have any good cards anyway!”

Weevil couldn’t help but snap back to that claim, even if he was lying on the ground in pain, “Hey, fuck off, you baboon! You wouldn’t no a good card if it bit you in the ass!”

Joey elected to ignore Weevil’s rude comment in favor of helping him out, “Give dis kid back his cards!”

Instead, the woman did the opposite; turning tail and running in the opposite direction. Tristan lurched forward to race after her, but Téa held him back. “It’s not worth it!”

“What do you mean it’s not worth it? We need to get back at that Marik guy as soon as possible!” Tristan pulled out of his friend’s grasp, but she simply grabbed onto him again with her other arm.

Téa replied to him sternly, “She’s running back to the other Rare Hunters, you idiot! Do you want to walk right into a trap?” That shut the taller guy up.

Joey had bent down to help Weevil up from the ground. “Ya doin alright down dere?”

Weevil stood up without taking the blond’s helping hand, making sure to snap back with a sarcastic reply, “I just got mugged, so I’m in **fantastic** shape right now.”

Rolling his brown eyes dismissively, Joey turned back to his friends. “Dat Marik bastard won’t give up easy, ey?”

“The Rare Hunters sure are something.” The old man muttered to himself. “I’d better get back to my card shop before they get any ideas about robbing that, too!”

Weevil scoffed haughtily, “Well, I’ll be busy trying to track them down, since **apparently** that isn’t one of your hero duties.”

“Are you insane?” Téa shot back, her voice equal parts firm and concerned, “If you couldn’t beat one Hunter, how on earth do you expect to dispel a whole cult of them?”

The blue-haired duelist shook his head, “I won’t be doing it alone! What do you take me for?”

Téa raised her eyebrow quizzically, “Do you seriously mean the only help you’ll be getting is from that Rex kid? If so, we still take you for an idiot.”

Weevil let out a frustrated growl, “Shut up! I don’t need anymore backup! If you tramps aren’t going to help me, he’s all I have!” The entomophile whipped around and started to walk forward, but he promptly tripped over the curb and fell for the third time that day.

“I don’t think you’ll be going much of anywhere without your glasses, young man.” The elder pointed out.

“Chill out.” Tristan instructed, “Yugi will take out the Rare Hunters in no time, and then we’ll be sure to return your cards.”

Weevil ignored him, instead opting to pull out his phone and start texting Rex to pick him up.

“Whatever!” Téa growled, “Come on, guys. Let’s leave this weirdo alone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My favorite thing about writing this chapter was making Weevil as rude and snarky as possible. Thank you for reading, and I'll be posting another chapter tomorrow!


	3. Chapter 2: Edna's Candy Store

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't write anything for the villain prompt, which I feel guilty about since that means for three days in a row I've only posted this. But the last few days of ShrimpShipping Week 2018, I'll post a new chapter and a one-shot! Anyway, back to this book. This is a chapter a full duel in it! It was very hard to write and probably didn't turn out very well, but I really wanted to try, since the second book will probably have a lot more card games in it and I didn't want that to feel like it was coming out of nowhere. Alright, enough talk, you should just go ahead and read this. Hope you enjoy it!

“Two-Headed King Rex, attack her life points directly!” Rex laughed as his opponent fell to her knees after her last monster was stomped. “All right, pay up!”

The girl handed him two locater cards and a copy of Seiyaryu, but she looked incredibly bummed about losing the duel and was pretty reluctant to hand over her favorite card. Rex knew the feeling.

“Sorry, girlie.” He patted her head encouragingly, but it probably just came off super weird to her. He didn’t give her a chance to respond or even react, because he had already sprinted off in another direction to find his next opponent.

 _I’ve already got four locater cards! Just two more and I’m on my way to the finals!_ Rex hadn’t felt so energized in a long time. Ever since losing in Duelist Kingdom, he and Weevil had been experiencing kind of a low mood, but getting out and winning duels again was reminding Rex why he loved this game so much.

After bolting across the street, Rex found himself standing in front of a candy store. He pressed his face up against the window to get an eyeful of the interior and scoped out that the store was having a sale: everything half off.

 _Now’s as good a time as any to stock up on candy._ Rex thought to himself. _And I’m hungry! I bet Weevil’ll be too after a long day of dueling… I should get stuff for him too._

The brunet pushed open the door to the store and heard a bell ring to signal his entrance. The store was completely empty, save the old woman at the counter. _I guess everyone else is outside dueling._

Rex scooped up a basket and began to load up on him and Weevil’s favorite treats. Rex liked milk chocolate and Weevil preferred dark, Weevil hated spicy things and Rex couldn’t get enough of them, Weevil liked berry flavoring and Rex preferred tastes like bubblegum and sour apple… the two boys had such different tastes Rex ended up buying some of almost everything in the store.

“Scuse me, lady!” Rex plopped his basket on the counter, the force causing a few nut and caramel filled chocolates (for Weevil) to fall out in front of her. “I’d like to buy all these.”

“Somebody has a sweet tooth!” The elderly lady observed.

“It’s not all for me.” Rex replied. “I’ve got a friend to share with.”

“This is a lot of sugar for two people.”

“We snack a lot.” Rex answered simply. “But, uh, mostly me. Weevil actually has a normal diet.” He smiling nostalgically to himself, “When this big tournament is over, we can celebrate with all this candy!”

“So you’re a duelist,” The old woman had begun to scan the packaged goodies and put them into bags, “My grandson is a duelist. He’s somewhere out there right now, trying to win fame and fortune.”

Rex nodded, “Fame and fortune is really fun, but it rarely lasts.”

The old woman tilted her head, “Fame and fortune are overrated. What really matters is the people in our lives.” Rex didn’t get a chance to respond to that, because the woman had already scanned all of his items, “That’ll be 3,704 yen, please.” The shopkeeper handed Rex two bags jam packed with candy. “I used to be a gamer, you know. I was a nationally ranked checkers champion.”

“Wow.” Rex pulled out his wallet and began rummaging around for cash.

“I picked up Duel Monsters, and I even registered for the tournament.” She smiled warmly. “But to be honest, I’m to old to be running around and looking for opponents.”

“You could always give your locater cards to me!” Rex joked as he handed her a wad of coins and bills.

The elder laughed, “It’s not that easy, you know. Why don’t I play you for it?”

Rex was up for the challenge. “You’re on, lady!”

“Please, call me Edna.” The elderly woman pulled out her Duel Disk excitedly. “It’s time to duel!”

Both of the duelists started by drawing their five cards. Rex got a good look at his hand, and he had to say that he was not disappointed. “You can go first.”

“The customer is always right.” Edna said with a shrug. “I summon Magician’s Valkyria in attack mode and set a card face down. That’s all.”

Rex blinked. “Alright. I draw!” The brunet glanced at the card he drew before adding it to his hand. “I summon Balloon Lizard and activate Ultra Evolution Pills! This lets me trade tribute a retile monster on the field and summon a dinosaur from my hand, so I summon Jurrac Tyrannus in attack mode!” The multi-colored holographic dinosaur flourished to life in the confines small candy store. “It has 2500 attack, and your monster only has 1600! Jurrac Tyrannus, attack!”

The large reptile stomped Edna’s spellcaster and crushed it into a thousand holographic pieces. Edna didn’t seem to concerned, though, because she called out with confidence, “You activated my trap: Soul Rope! I can pay 1000 of my life points when one of my monsters is destroyed in order to summon a level four monster from my deck!” Edna’s life points when down to 2100 as she searched her deck for a suitable monster. “I choose my Chocolate Magician Girl.”

“Not bad.” Rex admitted, “But not good enough! My monster’s effect still gives it 300 extra attack whenever it destroys a monster, so it’s not going anywhere.”

“We’ll just have to wait and see about that.” Edna said with a smile.

“I end my turn. Back to ya, lady.”

“Alright then. This is going to be pretty confusing, so I hope you can follow along.” The elderly woman picked up her Chocolate Magician Girl and sent it into the Graveyard, placing a new monster on her Duel Disk. “I summon the Dark Magician Girl, in attack mode!” A flurry of hearts covered the field, parting to reveal the blond magician.

“So? She’s still not strong enough to beat my dinosaur.”

“Didn’t anyone ever teach you manners?” Edna waggled her finger at her opponent. “Tsk, tsk. I play Tablet of the Dark Magician, a spell that allows me to summon one Dark Magician from my deck to my field.” A magical circle formed on the ground and began to glow, summoning the sorcerer. “And with the help of another spell, Magicians Unite, my Dark Magician Girl’s attack becomes 3000 until the end of my turn.”

Rex swallowed hard. “That means…”

“Yep! Dark Magician Girl, Dark Burning Attack!” Readying her wand, the blond spellcaster sent a beam of dark energy at Rex’s monster, destroying it and taking 300 of the dino duelist’s life points. “Unfortunately for me, Magician’s Unite keeps my Dark Magician from attacking this turn. Plus, Tablet of the Dark Magician only keeps my Dark Magician around for one turn before it sends it to the Graveyard. On a more positive note, my Dark Magician Girl gains 300 attack points.” The holographic girl jumped up with joy as her attack power was raised. “That’s the end of my turn.”

Rex took her cue and drew a card from his deck and had to resist the urge to laugh. “Alright! I play Star Blast! I can be any amount of life points that’s a multiple of 500 to decrease the level of a monster in my hand. I choose to pay 2000 life points to lower my Tyrant Dragon’s level down to four. Of course, that means I can summon it without a tribute!” Now at 1700 life points, Rex slapped the card onto the duel disk and watched with satisfaction as it appeared on the field. “My dragon is strong enough to destroy yer puny Dark Magician Girl!” A blast of fire was enough to destroy the spellcaster, and cause Edna to lose 600 life points. “Now I'm ahead!,” Rex observed that his opponent’s 1500 life points was lower than his, “And you’ll have to get past my dragon if ya want to beat me! Make sure to keep in mind, traps don’t work on it!” The violet-eyed duelist laughed, “I end my turn!”

Edna drew a card, and by the look on her face she was pretty happy with it, “I activate another card, Supremacy Berry! If my life points are lower than yours, I gain 2000 life points!” Now Edna was up to 3500, almost as much as she had started with, “Your turn, sweetie.”

Rex grunted and drew a card, “I set two cards face down.” Rex pointed at Edna and yelled, “My Tyrant Dragon is going to attack yer life points directly!” The dragon readied another blast, sending an inferno flying towards Edna’s defenseless life points.

“From my hand, I activate the quick-play spell, Scapegoats!” Four brightly colored Sheep Tokens appeared in front of her, and the yellow one took the dragon’s attack before leaving the field.

Rex smiled, “Nice play! But I’m afraid it’s going to hurt ya a lot more than it will help ya.”

Edna blinked, “Excuse me?”

“I activate Jurassic Impact! This card destroys all the monsters on the field and causes the owner of those monsters to take 1000 points of damage for each of their destroyed cards!” Tyrant Dragon was sent to the Graveyard, whittling down Rex’s life points back to 700. Edna’s Sheep Tokens got the boot, too, costing her most what remained of her life points. “Ya only got 500 life points left, lady!”

Edna smiled, “But you don’t have any monsters defending your life points.”

“True.” Rex shrugged, “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to lose. I end my turn.”

“I play Monster Reborn, so I can summon Dark Magician in attack mode!” The purple-clad magician reappeared on the field, “And he’s going to take out the rest of your life points!”

As the spellcaster began to ready his scepter for a shadow-based attack, Rex revealed his face-down trap, “Mirror Force, go!” A large blast of energy expanded over Edna’s side of the field, sending her spellcaster straight back to the Graveyard.

Edna looked wide-eyed at her opponent, “What?”

“Sorry, grannie.” Rex waved his hand dismissively, “It may be an overpowered card, but it’s still allowed! And now you’re the one with no monsters to defend themselves!” The brunet laughed triumphantly, “I’m guessing that ends yer turn?”

Edna nodded and Rex drew a card, “I summon Miscellaneousaurus and attack your life points directly! It’s over, lady!” The skeletal dinosaur came to life on the field and charged towards the elder, ready to end the duel and finish her off for good.

The old lady wasn’t ready to go down yet, “I activate a quick play spell, Negate Action!”

Rex growled in frustration, “Oh, come on!”

“It’s not over until it’s over.” Edna said calmly, “Didn’t your mother ever teach you that?”

Rex flinched at that notion, “Just go already! I end my turn.”

“I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior!” Edna placed the monster on her Duel Disk, and in a burst of dark energy, the magician materialized on the playing field. “When this card is normal summoned, I get to put a Spell Counter on it, which raises it’s attack power by 300 points!” Breaker’s attack went up from 1600 to 1900. “That’s just enough to destroy your dinosaur!” The magical warrior swung it’s mighty sword at the brunet’s monster; destroying it and bringing Rex’s life points down to 600. “I end my turn!”

“You’re a tough opponent,” Rex admitted, “But I think I have what I need to stop you!” The brunet took two cards out of his Graveyard and banished them, “Miscellaneousaurus’s effect lets me banish dinosaur monsters from my Graveyard and summon a monster with that level to the field, so I’m banishing Miscellaneousaurus and Juracc Tyrannus and summoning Babycerasaurus!” The tiny dinosaur appeared on the field in front of it’s owner, “It won’t be sticking around though, because I activate the spell card Big Evolution Pills! I can tribute my adorable dino and for the next three turns I don’t need to tribute to summon dinosaur monsters.”

“I don’t see how that will help you.” Edna commented, “You can’t summon anything this turn, and my monster is ready to take out your life points and end this duel.”

“Let me finish, will ya?” Rex put his Babycerasaurus in the Graveyard and began to search his deck. “Babycerasaurus’s effect means that when it’s sent to the Graveyard by a card effect, I can summon a level 4 or lower dinosaur from my deck! And I choose Evilswarm Salamandra!” The large reptile appeared on the field, ready to devour Breaker the Magical Warrior. “Did I mention my dino’s special ability?” Rex took Babycerasaurus and Balloon Lizard out of his Graveyard and banished them as well. “I can banish up to two monsters from my Graveyard to increase my Evilswarm Salamandra’s attack by 600 points until the end of the Battle Phase!” The dark dinosaur’s power increased from 1850 to 2450 in just one play, “It’s feeding time! Evilswarm Salamandra, attack her stupid monster and bring me victory!” With a swipe of it’s claws, the dinosaur destroyed Edna’s monster and sent her life points down to zero, ending the duel.

Edna began to clap for her opponent’s victory. “Good game!” She walked over to the boy and handed him one locater card and her Dark Magician. “You’ve got a lot of spunk, kiddo.”

“Woohoo!” Rex added his new locater card to the rest, “Just one more and I’m off to the finals!”

Edna nodded, “I’ll be rooting for you.”

Rex waved to her before leaving the shop with his two bags of candy. Outside the shop, the air was getting cooler, and Rex knew the first-round of the tournament would be ending in just a few hours. _I should text Weevil and ask how he’s doing._ The brunet pulled out his phone and noticed Weevil had texted him about ten minutes ago; he must not have noticed while he was dueling.

It said, “I need you to meet me in the park. Immediately.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did the duel turn out okay? It was by far the most time consuming part of this entire fanfic to write, so here's hoping! Anyway, thank you for reading! Happy ShrimpShipping Week!


	4. Chapter 3: Little Kaiba

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another day of the week, another chapter of this! I'd say this chapter is more of a transitional chapter. It mostly is just supposed to lead into the next one. Hopefully it turned out well!

_So much for him arriving immediately._ Weevil thought bitterly. The insect duelist had been waiting for his friend to arrive for about fifteen minutes without seeing a sign that he would show up. Weevil had managed to find a bench to sit on while he waited; a task that is incredibly difficult when you’re pretty much blind.

“Sorry!” Weevil turned his head to the left at the sound of Rex’s voice, “I was in the middle of a duel! Um, where are yer glasses?”

“That’s what I’m going about to explain to you.” Weevil felt Rex’s shoulders brush up against his as the dinosaur enthusiast sat down on the bench next to him. “You’ve heard of the Rare Hunters, right?”

“Yeah, who hasn’t?” Rex responded.

Weevil took a deep breath, “Well… they stole my deck.”

“Seriously?” His friend replied, dumb-founded. “That’s insane!”

“It totally sucks!” Weevil vented, “I haven’t been able to win a single locater card, all because some creepy lady stole my cards!”

“Don’t worry, buddy.” Rex patted his shorter friend on the back comfortingly. “I’ll get it back for ya!”

“There’s one problem,” Weevil explained, “I don’t know where they are.”

Rex thought about that for a moment, “Well, then I guess we’ll have to find that out.”

 The blue-haired duelist rubbed his temples in frustration and embarrassment, “Obviously. But how? That’s a lot easier said then done.”

“We could try to draw them out and follow them.” The brunet suggested.

Weevil nodded, “That’s a good start.”

“Anyway…” Rex’s train of thought completely unhinged from the conversation as he trailed off into something he must have found more interesting, “I got candy.”

“That’s useful.” Weevil muttered sarcastically.

He could hear his friend rummaging around, “You want a lollipop?”

Weevil scoffed dissaprovingly, “No thank you.”

“Suit yourself.” Even if he couldn’t see him, the younger duelist could guess that Rex had popped the lollipop into his own mouth. The brunet must have picked up on Weevil’s frustration, because Rex reluctantly returned to the original matter at hand, “Do you think the Rare Hunters will show up again?”

“This tournament is swarming with strong duelists, and thus rare cards.” Weevil responded, “They’re probably running wild right now.”

“We should get up and look for them.” Rex suggested. He had already stood up from the bench in preparation to take the city by storm, but his companion wasn’t so eager.

“I’m blind, dumbass.” Weevil shot back, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Rex’s response came as quite the surprise. The dino duelist intertwined his fingers with Weevil’s and pulled the younger duelist off the bench. “I’ll hold yer hand and guide ya.”

“That won’t look gay at all.” The blue-haired duelist rolled his eyes, trying not to make eye-contact with his friend.

Rex shrugged, “Eh, who cares?”

Weevil would have said he did, but Rex had already started walking; pulling the smaller duelist along with him.

“I bet we’ll find some sort of clue if we search the city.” Rex said reassuringly.

“And if we don’t?”

 “Then just get your rich parents to buy you more cards.”

“They aren’t going to be happy that I lost my glasses.”

“Don’t you have contact lenses at the hotel room?”

“Yeah, but I don’t like wearing them.” He sighed, figuring it was his best bet, “But it’s better than being blind, I **guess**.”

“Okay, we can swing by the hotel before we continue our search.” Rex was silent for a second before asking a question, “Why don’t you like wearing contacts?”

“They’re stupid.” The entomophile responded simply.

“Not as stupid as your glasses. Those are **really** stupid.” Rex snickered to himself, then continued, “And you look a lot cuter without those ridiculous glasses on.”

Weevil couldn’t tell if that was a compliment or not. “I wasn’t talking about how they look! What I meant was I don’t like sticking things in my eyes. It makes me nervous.”

Rex grunted, “What ever you say, bug boy.”

After a few minutes of awkward silence, the two arrived at the hotel. Their room was on the third floor, so the two had to take the elevator to reach their destination.  After they got out of the lift, it was a short walk to the room.

“They’re in the first pocket of your suitcase, right?” Rex asked, already having run off to poke through the blue-eyed boy’s luggage. Weevil just hoped he wouldn’t look at anything he wasn’t supposed to.

“Second.” Weevil corrected him.

It wasn’t long before Rex had fished out the lens case and handed it over to Weevil. “Thank you.” Weevil said as he began to insert the contacts into his eyes.

“No problem.” Rex said nonchalantly, “Just doing my job.”

Weevil blinked a few times to adjust his vision, and after a few seconds the world was looking normal again. “I can’t wait to give those assholes a piece of my mind!”

Rex nodded encouragingly, “And mine!”

“A piece of your mind would barely do any damage.” The insect duelist teased.

The reptile enthusiast opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a loud whirling sound coming from near the window. The two boys rushed over to the glass to see a helicopter flying through the air; a black-haired child tied up on a rope dangling from the machine’s underbelly.

“Holy shit!” Rex exclaimed, “That’s the little Kaiba!”

The vehicle was heading in the direction of several abandoned warehouses by the pier, and Weevil was quick to rush over to the door leading out into the rest of the hotel. “Come on!” The blue-eyed boy called back to his friend, “I think **that’s** who we’re looking for!”

The pair ran as fast as they could through the hall of hotel rooms and took a sharp turn down the stairs leading to the lobby; almost knocking down a family that was checking in as they barreled through the exit of the building. Weevil looked around frantically before running across the street, Rex trailing close behind.

“Those warehouses are only a few blocks away!” Weevil said, panting.

Rex gasped back in response, “I don’t think I can run that far…!”

“Suck it up!” The shorter boy shot back, “We need to get there as soon as possible!”

By the time the boys arrived at their destination, they were thoroughly exhausted and had to lean against the side of one of the buildings for support. The alleyway didn’t exactly look like the kind of place defenseless little boys should be hanging out, but it most certainly seemed like a nice and shady place for a crime organization.

Rex collapsed to the ground, “Okay… now what?”

The brunet’s companion fell down next to him and leaned on the taller duelist’s shoulder to hold himself up, “We go in… I guess…” Barely able to speak, Weevil grabbed Rex’s hat off his head and used it to wipe the sweat off his face.

Rex didn’t seem to mind too much, and he weakly took the hat out of Weevil’s grasp and did the same, “We didn’t think this through very well…”

“Hey!”

Weevil looked up to see the little boy who was tied up before peeking out at them from an opening in the roof. The blue-haired duelist yelped in surprise, reflexively clutching Rex’s jacket.

Mokuba spoke before either teenager had a chance to, “What are you two doing here?”

“We saw ya tied up to that chopper earlier,” Rex responded, “And figured the Rare Hunters might have something to do with it. We’ve gotta bone to pick with those creeps!”

“Well, I’m trying to escape right now,” The raven-haired boy explained, “So if you guys could please get out of my way.” The child turned his head back into the building, “It’s nothing to worry about! Just Rex and Weevil!”

Before Weevil could ask who he was talking to, the boy had jumped out of the window and landed squarely on his feet. “You two had better scram. Those guys are going to start looking for me as soon as they realize I’m gone, so we have to book it!”

Weevil shook his head, “No way! We came all this way so we could get my cards back!”

Mokuba sighed, “Okay fine, you can come with me. I’m going to find Yugi and Seto, and then all of us can go and take these guys down together!”

Rex and Weevil nodded in unison and tiredly staggered after the boy as he dashed off, trying to get as far away from the warehouses as possible. They reached a shipyard with several large shipping crates to hide behind, so the three ducked behind the bulky boxes and waited.

They heard several voices shortly after, all shouting curses and nasty remarks at one another about Mokuba’s escape. After a few minutes the voices faded out, and Rex peeked out from their hiding spot to confirm their pursuers were gone.

“We lost them.” The dino duelist sighed in relief, “They really didn’t look very hard, did they?”

Weevil looked over at Mokuba expectantly, “Now what?”

“I calling the Kaiba Copter over here,” The little boy responded, pulling out some sort of remote and pressing a few buttons, “And then we find Seto and Yugi. Last I saw them, they were being confronted by a Rare Hunter in a mask.”

“Damn,” Rex rubbed the mop of hair under his hat, “Those guys lead much more exciting lives then we do, don’t they, Weevil?”

Weevil punched his arm to shut him up, “Are the Rare Hunters after Yugi and Kaiba for their cards, too?”

Mokuba shook his head, “Their leader has something personal against Yugi.”

“Marik?” Weevil recalled the Hunter mentioning her leader by name. Whatever that guy was up to, he sure had done well in amassing such a loyal following.

The boy didn’t seem to hear him, because he addressed the two of them as if Weevil hadn’t said a word, “You two better not get me into any trouble!”

Rex flashed the boy a thumbs-up and a wink, “Ya can trust us, little Kaiba!”

“I doubt that.” The black-haired vice president responded, “But you guys seem like you need a helping hand, so I really don’t have much of a choice.”

A look of realization crossed over Rex’s face, and the brunet started digging around in his pockets before pulling out a lollipop, “A symbol of gratitude.” He explained simply before pulling out a stick of gum and preceding to chew it.

Mokuba happily accepted the offering and popped the candy into his mouth right as the Kaiba Copter appeared over head. The large vehicle made its descent towards the raven-haired boy, and the door swung open with a push of a button on Mokuba’s remote.

Rex didn’t hesitate to push past Weevil and Mokuba to leap into the helicopter, “Wow! Sweet ride, dude!”

Mokuba jumped in after him, “I call the window seat!”

Weevil was more hesitant then his companion to get into the helicopter, as indicated by the fact that he didn’t immediately leap into the vehicle. Rex turned back and looked askance at his friend, “What’s the problem, bug boy? Afraid of heights or something?” When Weevil didn’t respond, the brunet didn’t stop probing for answers, “I’ll let ya have the other window seat, if ya want.”

The blue-haired duelist rolled his eyes dismissively, “This is going to be a wild ride.” Rex reached out one of his hands to help Weevil into the chopper, and the entomophile reluctantly took it and let his friend pull him in.

As soon as Weevil was in the helicopter, the door closed and they were off soaring through the air. Mokuba began to give the two teenagers a run-down of the plan, “Tournament registered Duel Disks have tracking devices implanted in them so we can be sure no foul-play is going on. If any should happen, that’s what I’m for!” Mokuba gave a Rex a knowing look, and Weevil couldn’t help but feel excluded somehow. “That means that finding them will be a breeze!”

The insect duelist took a spot in between the two long-haired boys, opting to let them have the position by the window they seemed to care so much about. “Does that mean you could track Rex and I should anything happen to us?”

“Yep!” The vice president responded chipperly, “Don’t sweat it! I promise I’ll come looking for you if anything bad happens!”

Rex nudged his partner’s shoulders encouragingly, “There’s nothing to worry about, buddy. We’ll be fine.”

Weevil puffed his cheeks indignantly and hissed, “I know that! Don’t you dare worry about me, got it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you couldn't tell, I really love Mokuba. His relationship with the shrimps will be more important later in the story, but mostly in the second book.


	5. Chapter 4: Marik's Manic Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so this is the next chapter. Upon reading through this entire book multiple times, looking for errors and ways to improve it, I realize it is mostly just set-up for the much more exciting second installment. But the shrimps have to get to book 2 somehow, right? Anyway, hope you enjoy!

“There they are!” Mokuba cried, pointing out the window of the helicopter. Rex and Weevil both shot up to look out the glass, and they saw that the black-haired boy was correct. Yugi and Kaiba were on top of a building standing, seemingly in a tag duel together against two masked Rare Hunters, both of whom seemed to be in an awfully precarious situation. The glass floor the two robed figures were standing on was beginning to crack, causing much panic amongst the criminals. An explosion suddenly happened from somewhere near the two and the ground beneath the them shattered, surely sending them to their untimely and gruesome death.

Mokuba’s eyes widened in shock and terror; and he started to shake violently beside Rex. The brunet reached out an arm to try to comfort the child, even if the dino duelist himself couldn’t help but shutter a little. He couldn’t say he felt sorry for them, but it was a tad disconcerting to watch someone die right before his eyes.

Weevil, however, seemed completely unfazed by the turn of events, “Looks like they won.” He observed.

Mokuba shook his head, as if shaking any gruesome thoughts right out of his head, “Right. Let’s pick them up.”

As the helicopter approached the two duelists it clearly got their attention, as evident by Kaiba and Yugi’s sudden turn towards the vehicle. They were greeted with an open door into a helicopter and Mokuba’s smiling face. “Hey, big bro! I managed to escape those Rare Hunter punks!” The little vice president smiled, “Aren’t you proud of me? We came to rescue you!” The stoic brunet raised an eyebrow, and the raven gestured behind him towards Rex and Weevil, “I’ve got company.”

“Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood?” Yugi asked, “What are they doing here?”

“We’ve had enough of those Rare Hunter punks!” Rex blurted out, “We’re going to kick their collective asses!”

Kaiba rolled his eyes, “Good luck with that, nerds. Now step aside. This helicopter is property of Kaiba Corp, so good-for-nothings like you two has no business in it.”

Weevil bristled with agitation, “You act like your so high and mighty!” The blue-haired duelist smirked, “Talk it over with your brother, why don’t you? He’s the one who let us in here in the first place.”

The president shot the small child a dirty look before leaping into the helicopter without another word. Yugi followed suit, nearly knocking Rex over as he jumped into the overcrowded vehicle.

Kaiba had already taken Weevil’s spot in the middle seat and Yugi quickly seized Rex’s seat by the window; something Weevil clearly massively objected to. Rex didn’t give him a chance to complain, however, because the brunet had already sat down on the ground and grabbed his friend’s arm to take him down with him.

“So now what?” Rex asked loudly, breaking the tension that was crackling up in the confines of the helicopter. “Do we go and bruise up those assholes or what?”

Yugi tilted his head to the side and began to drop some exposition, “Marik has kidnapped my friends and is currently holding them hostage with the help of his Rare Hunters. Kaiba has Joey’s location via the tracking system in his Duel Disk, and it is safe to assume Téa is being held in the same site. Now all that’s left to do if confront Marik and stop his evil once and for all.”

The King of Games’ tone was serious, almost ominous in nature, and it certainly reminded Rex of the weight of the situation. _To them, this isn’t just about stealing back some cards. It’s a matter of life and death._

“And after I help him rescue the rest of the geek squad,” Kaiba interrupted, “He’s agreed to duel me, so we can settle who’s **really** the better gamer once and for all.”

“But didn’t he already beat you like a gazillion times?” Rex asked obliviously. The company executive stared him down with his ice blue eyes in return, sending a shiver down the shorter brunet’s spine.

“I already agreed I would duel you, Kaiba.” Yugi let out an exasperated sigh, “And I have no intentions of going back on my promise. That would go against all my honor as a duelist. But right now, I think rescuing my friends is more important than the title of King of Games.”

Kaiba clearly didn’t believe it, “If it weren’t for your promise to duel me, I’d be perfectly fine with leaving your cheerleaders in Marik’s grasp, you know.”

 _This is just ridiculous!_ Rex thought to himself. _That Kaiba guy takes this thing way to seriously!_ The brunet turned to his friend beside him, who was fiddling with his cell phone with a vexed expression on his face. _Although when I think about it, Weevil isn’t much different. He’d do anything to win._

“Would you stop staring at me?” Rex flinched as Weevil called him out without so much as looking up from the screen on his phone, “You’re distracting me.”

“Distracting ya from what?” The reptile enthusiast looked over his friend’s shoulder to see that he was looking at a news sight, and he spotted various stories concerning incidents with the Rare Hunters pulled up on the screen. “Doing some research on the target, are ya? Smart.”

“These guys are good.” Weevil explained, “Even the ones who have been caught and imprisoned have given out almost zero sensitive data about the group. It almost seems more like a cult than a gang.”

Yugi nodded his head solemnly, “Their leader, Marik, is a dangerous evil force. He’s out to steal my Millennium Puzzle and use its ancient power for his own selfish gain.”

Rex blinked, “Ya mean that blingy necklace ya got there?”

“Don’t tell me you honestly believe in that hocus-pocus bologna Ishizu tried to poison my mind with.” Kaiba scoffed, “Belief in prior life is for the weak minded who want to believe they’re somehow worth more than their current miserable existence.”

Yugi glared at the CEO beside him, violet meeting blue as their eyes locked in a fierce staring contest, “How long will you continue to lie to yourself, Kaiba?”

“Can someone please explain what’s going on?!” Weevil cried out in frustration, breaking up the tension between the two rival duelists.

“I’m sorry, but you two have no place in this battle of destiny.” Yugi replied, “It’s best for as many people as possible not to know.”

Weevil wasn’t taking no for an answer, “Seriously? That’s a pretty shitty excuse for keeping us in the dark! We’re here too, so we deserve an explanation!”

Yugi sighed defeatedly and took a deep breath, “Alright, if you insist. My Millennium Puzzle allows me to channel the power of the shadows through the game of Duel Monsters, as well as also containing the spirit of an ancient nameless Pharaoh.”

“It’s all total propaganda.” Kaiba interjected, “Ishizu has some sort of agenda, I’m sure of it.”

Yugi’s eyebrows twitched in frustration, but he continued to talk in a level tone, “As the barer of the Millennium Puzzle, destiny has chosen me to wield the three mighty Egyptian God cards and defeat the newest threat to the very fabric of the universe.”

That seemed to peak Weevil’s interest, “God cards?”

“Back in the days of the Shadow Games, the Egyptian Gods were both the most feared and exhalated monsters in the land. Their power and image have now been recreated as monster cards,” Yugi looked down at his Puzzle, “And should Marik obtain the three Egyptian God cards and my Puzzle, he could rule the world as a new Pharaoh and bring about the return of the Shadow Games.”

Rex scratched his head tentatively, “Wow, that’s a lot to take in. Ya really have to save the world by playing a card game with a gang leader?”

Yugi nodded, “It is my destiny.”

Kaiba laughed, “You’re a joke, Yugi! Even after you proved your worth to the world, you still find it necessary to inflate your sense of importance by telling everybody you’re an Egyptian King.”

“You’re one to talk,” Weevil snapped back at the rich teen, “Even if you have a multimillion-dollar gaming corporation, you want to fuel your ravenous ego by winning the title of King of Games.”

The blue-eyed brunet glared daggers at the smaller boy, “A loser like you would never understand the meaning of true power.” He grinned smugly, “And last I checked, **you** only looked out for number one.”

Before the argument could progress any further, Mokuba pointed out the window and shouted, “Look! It’s Joey!”

Yugi shot out of his seat to get a good look, Rex and Weevil following close behind. Joey was standing in front of a pier with a Duel Disk attached to his arm, seemingly a free man with no Rare Hunters in sight. One thing did seem a bit off to Rex though, Joey’s eyes were completely missing their usual gleam of enthusiasm and were replaced with a vacant expression. It was odd to see the blond so emotionless and glazed over in appearance, and the dino duelist silently wondered if the Rare Hunters had put his through some kind of torture.

“Did Joey manage to escape like Mokuba did?” Rex wondered aloud.

“He looks slightly more brain-dead than usual.” Weevil commented smugly, rousing a chuckle from Rex and even a smile form Kaiba.

Yugi didn’t seem as amused, though, “Somethings wrong…”

The helicopter landed in front of the blond duelist, and Yugi quickly jumped out to greet his friend, “Joey! Is everything alright?”

 Mokuba skipped out of the vehicle, followed by Rex and Weevil before Kaiba finally stepped out. Mokuba was the first to speak, “Come on, Joey! Give us a glimpse of that winning smile, because we’re here to rescue you!”

Joey still stayed completely silent.

“Looks like he finally decided to shut his damn mouth for good.” Weevil remarked.

Rex took a step closer to the duelist he had labeled his rival, “Hey, dueling monkey! Ya in there?” The dino duelist waved one hand in front of his blank face, “It’s Rex Raptor! Oh, and yer friends are here, too.” Weevil cleared his throat, clearly hoping to be recognized in the rollcall, but Rex ignored him in favor of talking more smack, “Earth to idiot!”

Joey lifted an arm and used it to slap Rex across the face, causing the smaller guy fell backwards and land on the concrete. Weevil rushed over to his friend’s side and put his hands on his shoulders, then growled at the blond, “What’s gotten into you?!”

“What’s gotten into me?” Joey repeated, his voice low and devoid of his usual accent, “I guess you could say Marik did…” The blond laughed, but not with his normal hearty laugh; this laugh was ominous and filled the air around the group like smog.

“Marik got into ya?” Rex said again, “Was it g-” Weevil covered his friend’s mouth before he could say anything too stupid.

“Oh no…” Yugi muttered, “Don’t tell me…!”

“That’s right, Pharaoh!” Joey pointed at the short duelist with unprecedented confidence, “Your friend Joey Wheeler is under my control!”

Weevil shouted straight into Rex’s ear, “You never mentioned anything about Marik having mind control!”

Kaiba rolled his eyes, “Because he doesn’t! It’s all a lie!”

“Will you please shut up, Kaiba?!” Yugi finally snapped at the tall businessman, “Joey is in real danger!”

“And that’s not all…” The blond gestured towards a ship in the bay, “The girl is also under my control!”

From out of the exit of the boat, Téa began to make her way down the stairs leading to the pier the group was in front of. “That’s right, Pharaoh! And if you want to get us back, your going to have to duel your host’s best friend!”

Joey gestured to the pier and began to walk towards it, “We duel there. May the worthiest Pharaoh win!”

Yugi reluctantly followed after his possessed friend, “What is the meaning of this, Marik?”

Joey pointed down at the King of Games feet, bringing attention to the box and chains that were lying there. “We will chain ourselves up with those shackles, and the box containing the key will only open when your opponent’s life points hit zero. As you can see these chains are attached to that anchor, which will drag any player who is still chained up to the bottom of the ocean when the duel is over. You only have a limited amount of time to unlock yourself before the anchor drops and sends you both to your untimely death! Oh, and did I forget to mention this duel is timed? Don’t give into the stress!”

“This is nuts!” Mokuba cried, “We can’t seriously let him go through with this, can we Seto?”

Kaiba’s fists tightened, “Wheeler, stop this duel at once! It goes against Battle City regulations!”

Joey looked the brunet dead in the eye and smiled, “Should anybody try to interfere with this duel, that girl Téa will be crushed!” Yugi turned his head to see Téa strapping herself into a chair right below a massive crate dangling over head. “So go ahead and stop me. I’m sure she’ll understand!”

Weevil took his hands off of his friend and stood up from the ground, “This is just absurd! I’m going to call the police!”

“Shush!” Mokuba snapped back, “Don’t let him here you say that! Go to the police station yourself to lower suspicion, got it? I’m sure they can figure something out that won’t cause Téa to get smushed!”

The boy’s tall brother scoffed, “If I can’t think of anything, nobody can.”

Rex looked up at the businessman, “Even I can think of a solution to this. Guns.” The dino duelist tapped his head knowingly, “Policemen got tons of ‘em.”

Weevil rolled his eyes, “Come on, Rex!” The reptile enthusiast was about to object that he hadn't thought he would be coming with him, but Weevil had already grabbed his hand and began running off into the city in search of some police officers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel kind of for removing Rex and Weevil from the card game action again, but I think this is the best way for the story to go. Mostly because I think it would be super dragging to simply recreate the Possessed Joey vs Yugi duel again in book form with Rex and Weevil watching. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!


	6. Chapter 5: So Concludes Battle City!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ShrimpShipping Week is almost over, and that means that this fic is almost over! There isn't much more to say, so let's just jump into it!

The road was still bustling with duelists that made it hard to run through the crowded streets, but the smaller teens soldiered on; pushing through the crowds towards the subway station. Weevil knew there was a city map there, and that as soon as they figured out where the police station was they could quickly get there with little to no trouble. He just hoped the station wasn’t too crowded.

After a few minutes of shoving other people out of their way, Rex and Weevil finally reached the stairway that lead down into the underground train system. A quick glance at a map told Weevil the police station was in the center of town, about five minutes away by train if there were no delays. If all went well, the pair would only have to wait a couple minutes for the train to arrive before they could travel to the police station.

 _Once the police stop that psychopathic duel, the police will be quite helpful in arresting those robed creeps._ Weevil thought to himself, _We know where the Rare Hunters base of operations is in the city. They’ll have those guys apprehended in no time, and then I can get my cards back._

Rex and Weevil sat down on a bench near the rails, waiting for the train to arrive and take them to their destination. The insect enthusiast felt Rex put his hand on top of his, and despite himself the smaller duelist didn’t object. Given the stressful situation, he assumed his friend was looking for some form of comfort.

“It’s been a wild day.” Weevil muttered.

Rex nodded but didn’t say anything, just squeezing the blue-eyed boy’s hand tighter.

“Magical Millennium Items,” The insect duelist went on, “I’m not really sure whether we should believe that or not…”

“Did ya get a good look at Joey?” Rex replied, “He seemed like he was mind-controlled to me. If ya ask me, the story checks out.”

Weevil sighed, “And when I think about it, Yugi being aided by some ancient gamer spirit strangely makes sense. He seemed really weird in our duel back in Duelist Kingdom.”

The train pulled into the station right on schedule, and Rex shot up from the bench without another word. Weevil followed after him and boarded it without too much pushing from other people trying to get on. The car was only about full, not overcrowding like usual, so Weevil assumed most people must still be on the streets dueling. He did notice a familiar face sitting among the few people in the train, though…

“Is that Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood is see?”

It was Mako Tsunami, the ocean duelist from the National Tournament. This wasn’t the first time they’d crossed paths during Battle City, he and Rex had a run-in with the sailor when the tournament was announced, and the insect duelist recalled the three of them hurling insults at each other in front of Yugi and Mai. Silently, he wished he could go through with his threats and duel the taller man right then and there, but with no deck that was sadly impossible.

Mako smiled at the two shorter guys and patted the empty seats next to him, “Come on, sit down!”

Rex seemed quite happy to see the fisherman again and eagerly ran over to sit next to him. Reluctantly, Weevil padded across the train and joined his friend by the ocean enthusiast’s side.

“What’re ya doing on this train, Mako?” Rex asked before Weevil had a chance to, “Looking for opponents on the subway?”

“No, I actually got the boot from the tournament.” Mako sighed, “Some mysterious lady beat me and took my Fortress Whale while I was preforming at the aquarium. You win some, you lose some.”

Weevil nodded, “Sounds about right. If Rex could own your ass in a card game, anybody can.”

The taller duelist laughed, “Nice to see you have not changed. How are you two doing in the tournament?”

“I already have five locater cards!” Rex laughed heartily, “Pretty sweet, right?”

“Congratulations!” Mako patted his back encouragingly, “Good luck getting to the finals, little minnow!” Weevil was hoping after Rex had answered his end of the question that Mako would forget asking him, but he was sorely mistaken, “What about you, Weevil? How have you fared?”

“That’s none of your fucking business!” Weevil snapped back bitterly.

The insect duelist’s friend didn’t seem to catch that he didn’t want to talk about it, because he opted to answer Mako’s question in his place, “Weevil got his deck snatched up.”

That certainly caught the fisherman off guard, “Who would do such a thing? A duelist’s deck symbolizes their honor!”

Weevil wanted to say **he** would do such a thing, but he opted make the most of the situation and play the pity card instead, “I’m sure you’ve heard of the Rare Hunters. I don’t think they particularly care about the ‘honor of a duelist.’”

Mako gave the shorter boy a sympathetic look, “I am deeply sorry to hear that. Did you even get in one single duel?”

Weevil shook his head, “Nope. It’s honestly infuriating!”

“Forgive me for bringing it up.” Mako bowed his head repentantly. “My apologies.”

The blue-haired boy scoffed, “Whatever.”

With that dispute well and over, Rex was ready to get back to the subject his victories in the tournament, “Anyway, ya want to see the cards I’ve won?” At the taller man’s nod, the dino duelist pulled out his deck and began to sift through the cards before handing Mako three monster cards.

“These are some pretty powerful beasts.” Mako observed, “You have done well.”

Weevil needed to fulfil his quota of smug comments for this conversation, “Looks like he did better than you again. Can’t say I’m too astonished.” The blue-eyed duelist was a bit surprised to find himself bragging and throwing shade on behalf of his partner, but it didn’t really bother him as long as he had something to act conceited about.

“He is a pretty talented duelist.” Mako admitted, giving Rex a sideways glance, “I was surprised he got kicked out of Duelist Kingdom so quickly.”

“Aw, shucks!” Rex rubbed his head bashfully, “Y’all are too kind!”

Weevil hadn’t taken into account his friend’s presence and was instantly regretting ever saying anything, “You’re only as good as the cards in your hand.” He reprimanded, “You don’t have any sense of strategy.”

The sailor was silent for a moment before he spoke up again, “You should not be so hard on your friend. He deserves more credit than you give him.”

Before Weevil could snap back a response, Rex had already replied to the fisherman, “It’s no problem, Mako. Weevil’s just teasing.”

Weevil snorted but didn’t say anything.

Mako looked at the entomophile askance, “You two sure do have an odd relationship.”

 “Shut up!” Weevil puffed out his cheeks, “There’s nothing wrong with us!” The train came to a screeching halt and Weevil quickly stood up to get out of the vehicle, “This is our stop. Bye.” Without saying another word, the blue-haired teenager hastily departed the fisherman’s company, eager to get out of the train and escape having to talk about the brunet.

 _Don’t get distracted!_ Weevil ordered himself, _Find the police!_

Rex ran after his companion as the insect enthusiast climbed up the stairs and returned back to the surface, where the police station was just in front of him. Weevil burst into the station confidently, slamming the door open and startling all the cops.

“There is a highly lethal duel going on by the pier!” The small boy shouted, “If you don’t come immediately, someone might get hurt!”

“Isn’t that what you call the tournament supervisor for?” One of the cops asked.

“The supervisor is a **child**!” Weevil shot back furiously, “And he’s already there, along with his older brother! Guess what they’re doing? **Nothing!** Do you honestly expect me to just let two teenagers handle this incredibly delicate situation without calling some responsible adults?”

Rex had also entered the station, but he had decided to leave most of the talking to the blue-haired boy as he took a few donuts from a box on an officer’s desk, “Yeah, bros. It’s kind of a big deal.”

One of the cops stood up from his chair, gun in hand, “The pier, you said? We’re on it!” Two other cops stood up and ran after him as they departed the station in a single-file line.

“Thanks for the help, kiddos. We’ll make sure to arrest whoever we need to.” A police officer thanked the two boys, not even moving from her seat at her desk.

“Guess we’re done here,” The smaller of the two boys muttered, grabbing his companion’s arm and awkwardly shuffled out of the station and back onto the streets of Domino City.

Literally as soon as they had closed the door behind them, something bumped into Weevil and knocked him into his partner, sending them both falling to the ground.

“Why does this keep happening to us?!” The entomophile shouted in frustration, “Can’t somebody **else** get knocked over for a change?” Weevil looked up at the person who’d knocked them over, and noticed an extremely attractive teenager with long, black hair holding the hand of a younger girl with bandages over her eyes.

“We don’t have time for this!” The hot guy shot back, “We’re trying to escape the Rare Hunters!”

“Rare Hunters?” Rex and Weevil wondered in unison. The teenage boy didn’t bother to ask the pair what they knew about the gang, instead running straight into the street without the slightest bit of caution, dragging the red-head along with him.

A car came barreling towards the teenagers, only barely stopping before it hit them and resulted in their untimely death. The blond woman driving the car leaned out of the window and yelled, “Hey, watch it!” Weevil recognized her to be Mai Valentine almost immediately.

 _Do I know everyone in this fucking city?_ The duelist thought to himself.

“Hey could you maybe give us a lift?” The black-haired guy asked with a wink, “Our friend Joey Wheeler is in trouble!”

“Joey?” Mai blinked, “You know him?”

Rex interrupted their conversation to add, “Wait, don’t forget us! That’s exactly where we need to go, too!”

The hot guy looked back at him with his piercing green eyes, “You know where he is?”

“He’s by the pier!” Weevil answered, “Now are we getting in the car or not?”

“Fine!” The blond responded, “But you all owe me big time!”

The red-headed girl took the front seat, so Weevil and the attractive teenager got in the backseat, with Rex sitting awkwardly in between the two.

“Before we go,” The striking teenager told the driver, “There’s a very special someone we need to pick up. He shouldn’t be far from here, maybe a block away.”

Mai nodded and revved the car up to boost ahead, “Just who should I be looking for?”

The hot guy pointed around the block, “I hear screaming. He’s probably over there.”

Weevil followed his finger to notice Tristan Taylor, beating the living crap out of some Rare Hunter, while several other goons lay trembling on the sidewalk.

Mai pulled up in front of the brunet, which got his attention almost instantly. The black-haired dude winked at Tristan and said, “Guess who scored a sick ride to Joey’s location?”

Tristan nodded, “This guy told me he’s at the pier. We gotta hurry!”

“We already know where he is, dumbass!” Weevil interjected. Tristan must not have noticed the blue-haired duelist or his companion sitting there, because he practically jumped out of his skin when he saw him. “I was just there!”

“What the hell are they doing here?!” Tristan shouted.

Weevil huffed indignantly, “Remember earlier today? I’m still not over what those assholes did to me!”

“I don’t mean to be rude,” Rex asked uncomfortably, “But where is he going to sit?” Weevil looked at the car’s arrangement and noticed there was only four actual seats in the car. Rex sandwiching himself in between Weevil and the teenager had already been pushing the envelope, but adding another person to the mix was just too much.

“You could sit in my lap.” Duke said to Tristan with a taunting smile.

“Fat chance, perv!” The brunet shot back, “I say Weevil gets the boot!”

“I was here first!” The insect duelist objected, “So fuck off!”

The girl in the front-seat spoke up for the first time since Weevil had met her, “You can have my seat, Tristan. I’ll gladly sit in Duke’s lap if you don’t want to.”

That seemed to offend Tristan even more, “No way!”

Rex offered his two cents on the situation, “I’ll happily take this hottie up on his lap deal if necessary.” 

Now it was Weevil’s turn to get massively triggered, “What the fuck? I’m not letting you do that!”

“Don’t we have more pressing matters than who sits where?!” Mai snapped, “It sounds like Joey could be in serious trouble!”

“Fine!” Weevil had had enough of this incessant bickering, so he unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up, “You can sit here! I’ll just try to cram myself into the middle.”

It was incredibly difficult to cram two tiny teens in between Duke and Tristan, but they managed it. It worked, but it meant that the dino duelist was **everywhere** in Weevil’s personal space.

“Thank God you idiots could settle a debate like professionals! Now hold on tight!” Mai pressed on gas with all of her strength, and the car shot forward with insane velocity, causing Rex and Weevil’s heads to knock straight into each other. “It’s time to put the pedal to the metal!”

Weevil would have reached out a hand to rub his head injury, but he could barely move his arms. Fortunately, Rex was able to free an arm and stroke the wound for him. “Maybe this isn’t the most comfortable position,” The brunet murmured, “But we’ll be out of the car soon.”

The car remained silent for several tense minutes as the group reached the pier. Weevil spotted Kaiba and Mokuba were just where they’d been before; but that the duel field had devolved into utter chaos. Joey was shaking violently where he stood with Yugi’s Puzzle around his neck, all while Yugi shouted some inspirational bullshit about friendship.

“What the hell?!” Tristan leapt out of the car before it could even come to a complete stop and ran towards the others, shouting, “Why are Yugi and Joey dueling all chained up?!”

It wasn’t long before everyone else was quickly out of the car and beside the rest of the group. “Is Joey in trouble?!” The bandaged-up girl shrieked, reaching to take off the cloth covering her face.

Tristan grabbed her hand to stop her, “You don’t want to see this, Serenity!”

“Long story short, Marik set this up.” Kaiba explained bluntly, “He somehow brainwashed Joey into dueling on his behalf and has set up this sadistic duel so he can go through with it.”

Mai pointed across the water at Téa, who was still tied up underneath the crane holding up the giant crate, a Rare Hunter holding the remote that dictated whether the girl lived or died, “They have Téa, too?! Kaiba, you have to do something!”

“Are you all blind?” Kaiba snapped back, clearly oblivious to Serenity’s situation, “See that Hunter there? If I so much as lift a finger to stop this insanity, Téa’s going to be flattened several feet into the ground.”

“Then do something about the Rare Hunter, you massive douche!” Weevil shouted at the CEO, “It’s not that hard to figure out!”

That seemed to inspire the little boy near him, because Mokuba looked up at his older brother, “Big bro! I just had an idea!”

Whatever the little boy was saying, Weevil couldn’t hear it, because out of nowhere Joey started to scream in agony. Weevil reached for Rex’s hand before realizing his friend wasn’t standing with the group anymore.

“Rex?!” Weevil cried out in concern, before he whipped around to see the brunet had run to greet the big group police officers that had just arrived.

“Where were you people?!” Rex snapped at the cops, “Can’t ya see we’re in a deadly situation here?!”

The blue-haired duelist rushed to the side of his friend, ready to back him up, “We called you losers forever ago! What took you so long?!”

While two of the cops surveyed the situation, the remaining one of the trio answered the teenagers questions, “We ran into some Rare Hunters along the way and arrested them. But we’re here now, so don’t wo-”

The sound of what the officer was saying was cut of by a loud splashing sound as the crane above Téa splashed into the water. Rex and Weevil simultaneously swiveled around to see that the remote controlled Kaiba Copter had knocked over the machine. Kaiba was standing next to the chair that Téa was attached to, looking completely unfazed by the absolute mess of fuckery around him. The Rare Hunter who had been guarding her was knocked out unconscious on the ground, and one of the police officers rushed forward to arrest him.

“Téa!” Everybody ran forward to greet the brunette, and after a simple push of a button by Mokuba she was free.

“Thanks a lot, Mokuba!” The girl responded graciously.

“I guess we’re even now, Téa!” Mokuba giggled.

Téa looked across the water at Yugi and Joey’s duel. “Let’s help Yugi and Joey!”

“Right!” Tristan agreed, and the entire group rushed back to help the two duelists.

Weevil noticed the entire duel had gone to complete insanity. A massive fireball had hit Yugi and knocked him out on the pier, and the anchor was set to fall and drag both of them to their doom if Joey didn’t unlock himself quickly. “Wait a minute!” Joey realized, “Meteor of Destruction has another effect! Red-Eyes Black Dragon, attack me and wipe out my life points so Yugi’s box opens!”

As the entire group ran towards the center of the pier, Rex tripped over his own two feet and dropped to the ground clumsily, landing awkwardly on his arm. Weevil groaned and turned away from the rest of the group to help his friend up. Behind him, Joey was swinging across the water using the chain attached to the anchor, and Weevil noticed Serenity’s bandages fly through the air. “You fucking idiot!” Weevil snapped at his partner as he crouched down, putting his injured friend’s shoulder over his to lift him up, “How could you trip at a time like this?!”

“Look!” Rex cried out. Weevil turned to see Tristan hauling Yugi’s limp body out of the water.

“Where’s Joey?!” Mai shouted at the brunet.

"He doesn’t have his key!” Tristan shouted, “His is still in the box!”

Téa gasped and covered her mouth with her hands, “That means he’ll…!”

“I’ll get it, g-” Mokuba had only taken a few steps towards where Joey’s key was being held before stopping: Serenity had already gotten the key and had dived into the water to rescue her brother.

Everybody gasped, including Rex and Weevil. “Damn!” The injured brunet groaned, “I wish I had a sister like that…!”

Everything was deadly silent for about half a minute as everybody waited in suspense for Serenity to resurface with Joey. Everybody stood with bated breath as they stood anxiously by the water.

Serenity broke the surface of the water, gasping for air as she pulled Joey out of the depths of the ocean, and sounds of relief could be heard from almost everyone gathered around the water.

“Serenity…!” Joey choked, “You saved me!”

“When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was you!” Serenity responded, looking her into brother’s eyes with love Weevil had never seen from his own family, “I just had to rescue you, Joey! Because no matter what happens between us, I will always love my big brother.”

While everybody else gathered around Joey and Serenity and started saying some really emotional bullshit, Rex and Weevil stayed behind everyone else.

“Whelp, that was certainly… an experience.” Rex said awkwardly.

Weevil nodded and declared, “I never want to interact with these drama-magnets again.”

“I think I landed on my arm weird…” Rex groaned, “It hurts a lot…”

Weevil continued to scold his friend, “You had some nerve tripping over your shoelaces at a time like that!” The insect enthusiast gave the brunet noogie, “Your lucky I don’t give a shit about Wheeler, because otherwise I wouldn’t have come to check on you!”

“What now?” The dino duelist asked, “It’s sundown already, and I need one more locater card to make it to the finals.”

Weevil thought about that for a moment. _I didn’t even get to duel once, and now the first round of the tournament is over already?! Talk about bad luck!_

The smaller teen dug around in his short pockets before pulling out his locater card and handing it to his friend, “Guess you’ll go the finals after all.” Weevil said simply, embarrassed to show kindness and careful not to make eye contact with the brunet, “Good luck not getting your ass handed to you.”

Rex looked completely shocked, “Yer giving me a gift? Who are ya and what have ya done with my best friend?”

Weevil glared at him, unamused, “Just take it!”

Rex looked at the shiny card happily, “Ya know, yer a pretty good friend sometimes.”

“Don’t speak such slander against my name!” The blue-haired teenager snapped back, “At least one of us should get to go to the finals. So unless you plan on giving your five locater cards to me, I suggest you accept my offering and don’t speak another word about it as long as we live, alright?”

Rex smiled warmly, an expression which Weevil had mixed feelings about, “Whatever you say, bug boy.”

Their sweet little moment was interrupted by a police officer tapping Weevil’s shoulder. The man was holding out a deck of cards and looking at the insect duelist expectantly, “I assume this one’s yours?”

Weevil flipped through the deck to confirm that it was indeed his, “Yes sir.” He responded, “Thank you.”

The officer nodded in the direction of the police car, and Weevil noticed the other two officers handcuffing several Rare Hunters and escorting them into the vehicle, “You were a lot of help in apprehending those criminals, kiddo. Thanks for your help.”

Weevil didn’t really know what to say, but Rex seemed to think he did, “No problem, sir! Rex and Weevil are always here if you need us!”

“That’s not true.” Weevil interrupted, “Neither of us live here.”

The officer laughed, “Alright, then. Catch you two lovebirds on the flip side.”

“We’re not-!” Weevil tried to explain but Rex put his hand over his mouth.

“You, too!” The brunet called after the cop.

It was only after the law enforcement officer was gone that Rex took his hand over Weevil’s mouth. “What was that for?!” The entomophile sputtered.

Rex shrugged, “I don’t know. It’s best not to yell at people who have guns.” That would seem like a good answer **if** it wasn’t coming from the sloppily-dressed dino duelist, but Weevil decided not to question it for simplicity’s sake.

At that point, Yugi and his posse had approached Rex and Weevil, and the entomophile was ready to be beaten over the head with a bunch of obnoxious questions.

“Did ya get yer deck back, Weevil?” Joey asked.

Weevil nodded and answered simply, “Yes.”

“Glad ta hear it!” The blond responded, “So what’s next fer tha two of ya?”

Rex triumphantly held out his six locater cards, “I’m off to the finals!”

Tristan looked shocked, “What?! How in earth did you manage to win six locater cards?!”

Weevil was quick to snap back and defend his friend, “The same way you’d expect any other finalist to, idiot. By winning duels.”

Mai held out six of her locater cards, followed by Joey and Yugi, “Looks like we’ll be seeing each other again soon then.” The blond woman said, “So get ready for me to knock you down!”

Yugi smiled at the two slightly taller duelists, “Good luck, Rex! I’m sure you’ll do great!”

“Same here,” Rex shrugged, “But I’m not going to need luck!”

Tristan rolled his eyes, “Whatever, man! We’re heading to the location of the finals now, if you two’d like to tag along.”

Rex shook his head, “No thanks. We have to swing by the hotel first.” Weevil didn’t know what his friend was talking about and gave him a questioning glance, but Rex neglected answer properly answer it. “You’ll see.” He said simply, but his mischievous eyes betrayed him.

“Well, then I guess it’s time for us to get going.” Duke said, “You two should probably do the same, so I suggest getting off the ground.”

Rex and Weevil had been so caught up in conversation that they hadn’t gotten up after Rex had fallen down. The two awkwardly stood up and waved as the group left their company.

“What’s that black-haired guy’s deal?” Rex asked as soon as he was sure they were gone, “Do you think he’s single?”

“Don’t even think about it!” Weevil growled back, much to Rex’s amusement.

“Okay, okay! Sheesh!” The brunet grabbed his friend’s hand, “Now let’s swing by the hotel real quick. I have something to show you.”

Weevil rolled his eyes but didn’t object as the dino duelist hauled him off to the hotel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it weird that even if I wrote Rex making it to the finals myself, I still feel proud of him? Oh well. See ya next chapter!


	7. Chapter 6: Fine Dining

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With the end of ShrimpShipping Week comes the end of my story! This last chapter is to fill into the Jean-Claude Magnum thing in the show, so it isn't super eventful. Sorry if you were hoping for a thrilling conclusion or something... my bad.

Rex victoriously opened the door to the hotel room, swinging it open a bit too forcefully and almost knocking down a picture on the wall. “Hotel, sweet hotel!”

Weevil walked into the room as Rex held open the door, a gesture the brunet knew he resented greatly but couldn’t help but feel obligated to do for him anyway. “So why did you drag me here?” Weevil asked for about the fifteenth time.

Rex gestured to the bags of candy he’d bought earlier at Edna’s shop. “I bought all this so that when we made it to the finals, we could celebrate!”

Weevil blinked, “What would have happened if neither of us made it?”

“Then we would have eaten it anyway.” Rex said with a shrug, pulling out several chocolate bars and hurling them at his friend. Weevil dodged this way and that trying to catch the candy as it flew through the air, and Rex couldn’t help but laugh. “Ya should thank me for buying yer dinner.”

The entomophile didn’t, instead sitting down on the couch and crackling open the wrapper on one of the treats in silence. Rex grabbed a fistful of candy and walked over to sit down beside his companion.

“Who else do you think made it to the finals?” Rex asked, trying to break the awkward silence.

“Well we know Yugi, Mai and Joey made it in.” Weevil explained, “And we can assume Kaiba did, too.”

“It’d totally suck if he couldn’t place in his own tournament.” Rex commented.

Weevil shrugged, “As for the other three? Don’t ask me.” After a few minutes, the insect duelist finished his candy and said, “This is the most healthiest dinner I have ever eaten.”

“Really?” Rex was a bit surprised by that, “Don’t you ever sneak behind your parents back and snarf down snacks and shit?”

Weevil scoffed, “I’m not some kind of pig like you are. Besides, my parents are really strict. They wouldn’t hesitate with punishing me.”

The brunet had finished a bag of candy corn, and had moved on to a chocolate bar, “I find it really hard to believe ya don’t ever sneak around the house. Yer the sleaziest person I know.”

“Thank you.” Weevil tipped his head appreciatively, “But I’m only mischievous if I think I have something to gain from it. Going behind my parents back would be more trouble then it’s worth.”

It wasn’t very often that either of the shrimpy teenagers talked about their families, so Rex assumed it was just as much of a sore subject for Weevil as it was with him, “I don’t think my mom pays enough attention to really punish me.”

Weevil sighed, “Lucky. Your mom sounds cool.”

Rex nodded, “She is. She pretty much let’s me do whatever I want.”

“I wish my parents were like that.” The blue-haired duelist mumbled, “All they seem to care about is how I do in school.”

Rex was starting to feel bad for his little buddy. He didn’t know what it was like to have strict parents, in fact, his mom barely seemed to care about what happened to him at all. The brunet put his arm around his friend, “I can’t say I know what it’s like, but I do understand.”

Weevil smiled a little, “Thanks.”

“As long as you’re with me, I’ll let you do pretty much whatever you want.” The reptile enthusiast reassured him, deciding he could release Weevil from his arm.

The blue-eyed boy scoffed, “Like I need your permission.”

Rex decided to break the solemn mood by handed the entomophile a lollipop, “Do you want one now?”

“You’re persistent,” Weevil said, taking the sweet from his friend’s hand, “Fine.”

“I got a locater card from the candy shopkeeper.” Rex said, popping a few more pieces of candy into his mouth, “She was super nice. At one point, she summoned a bunch of Sheep Tokens with Scapegoats, so I activated Jurassic Impact.” The violet-eyed duelist explained, “Now that I think about it, I bet that’s be a good strategy to use against Wheeler.”

Weevil nodded, “I bet you’ll beat him if you go up against him again.”

“What makes ya say that?” Rex laughed, “Tired of ragging on my dueling skills?”

“Never!” Weevil stated, “I’m just getting started on ragging on Wheeler’s, that’s all.”

Rex moved on to a package of cookies, “Teasing Wheeler is fun.”

“It’s because there’s so much to make fun of.” Weevil commented, “He’s a loser.”

“Totally.” Rex agreed, “He is kind of hot, though.”

Weevil practically choked on his lollipop, “What?!”

Rex put up his hands defensively, “I don’t have to like the guy to admit that he’s attractive!”

The blue-haired duelist shook his head, “You’re so weird.”

“Thank you.” Rex responded.

“What makes Joey so attractive, anyway?” He knew that Weevil wasn’t going to let it go, and Rex started to regret saying anything at all.

“I don’t know.” Rex shrugged, “Nothing about him stands out in particular, he’s just good all around.”

Weevil thought about that for a moment before speaking again, “So what? I don’t care.” The insect enthusiast was a great liar, but he was doing a remarkably poor job at faking apathy this time around.

Rex couldn’t help but tease the boy’s unproficiency, “What’s the matter, bug boy?” Rex teased, “Worried that Wheeler’s hotter than ya?”

“Don’t be absurd!” Weevil retorted, “Why the fuck would I care about something as superficial as that?”

Rex titled his head, “Because your kind of a diva?”

That really ticked the boy off, and Rex got a swift slap to the face for that comment, “I’ve had just about enough conversation with you for one night! Come on, let’s go check into the finals before somebody else steals your place!”

The entomophile shot up from the couch and haughtily rushed over to the door. Rex got up and followed his friend, making sure to grab their suitcases before opening the door for Weevil and adding slyly, “Ladies first.”

Rex watched as Weevil pushed past him and walked ahead of him to the elevator. As soon as the two of them both left this room, it’d be on towards a new adventure. It might still be “Battle City,” but the finals were a whole separate beast for them to conquer. Rex was sure they’d get through it, though. They always did.

“Are you coming in my lifetime?” He heard Weevil call from the end of the hallway, clearly annoyed, “I’m waiting!”

Rex took one last look at the hotel room before running after his partner, “Coming, princess!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So ends the preliminary rounds of Battle City! This isn't the end of the story, though, because Rex and Weevil will return in the next book, coming next December to websites near you! Thank you for reading my story, and I can only hope you'll tune in for the still-unnamed sequel! Happy ShrimpShipping Week y'all! I'll catch you on the flip side!

**Author's Note:**

> This is by far the shortest chapter in the story, so I guess I'm skimping on the shrimp on the very day dedicated to this AU... oh well. If you are reading this in time with the ShrimpShipping Week, I'll see you tomorrow! If you aren't... hello, it's great to see you! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the next chapter!


End file.
